NIGER: One of the poorest countries in the world but with one of the highest birth rates

Record ID: 235325

  • Title: NIGER: One of the poorest countries in the world but with one of the highest birth rates
  • Date: 27th October 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING IN ALLEYWAY BETWEEN HOUSES
  • Embargoed: 11th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Niger, Niger
  • Country: Niger
  • Topics: Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVADTMHVXCUU4ZVBGA8CFBBXD1EE
  • Story Text: Whether it's just struggling to makemeet, or in search of a better life, Nigeriens go about their business this week largely unaware that a seven-day countdown is underway in the wait for the birth of the planet's seventh billion person.
    Based on calculations by the U.N. the world's population will reach seven billion on Monday (October 31) and by the middle of next week the we would be already well underway to reach 10 billion or more by the end of the century.
    The same report also predicts that the global population would be higher by mid-century than its last edition forecast two years ago, reaching 9.31 billion instead of 9.15 billion. It attributes this to fewer deaths as well as more births than it had anticipated.
    A world of seven billion has implication for sustainability, urbanisation, access to health services and youth employment, to name just a few.
    For Niger, a country with one of the highest birth rates in the world, but also one of the poorest in the world, it's a case of mixed blessings.
    "It gives us 7 billion neighbours, it's a huge human potential, a great richness which could contribute boost the development process, particularly in countries with low revenue. But it's also a challenge," said Dr Edwige Adekambi Domingo, the head of the Niger office for the United Nations Population Fund.
    "Countries with small revenues are facing big challenges in order to satisfy the needs and social rights of their population," Domingo added.
    This tent is the home of 45 year old Ahmed Ahmed, and his 5 children. He used to work as a blacksmith, making jewellery for tourists that used to come in abundance in Niger's northern city of Agadez.
    But various rebellions coupled with a food crisis put an end to all that, and tourism died when the town became too insecure for foreigners to come.
    Ahmed's eyesight also deteriorated, so he's no longer to work properly. With five mouths to feed, he's practically having to beg for their sustenance.
    "From early morning to night I try to work to feed my family, which means running around and asking people around from left to right, everywhere in town. In the evening it's the same thing," Ahmed said.
    Nations face a delicate balance between high fertility and booming populations, which strain food and other resources, and low fertility, which leads to ageing populations and stress on social services, as some European states are already finding.
    In Niger it's the struggle to educate the population about the benefits of family planning in the context of an Islamic culture, which dictates to the faithful that to better propagate the faith, the Islamic Oumah (community) must procreate. Families also believe that the more children they have, the more prosperous the family can become.
    According to the United Nations Children's Agency teenage marriages are also another reason for so many births. About 60 percent of youths are under the age of 18 and many girls marry at the age of 15 or younger.
    Polygamy can also be a factor. Once a man has a little money, he can marry two wives, and each can have 7 or 8 children making a household of up to 20 mouths to feed.
    "One shouldn't have more than four children maximum. We should know how to plan things because in a family with a father and a mother and four children, we can always manage to respond to the needs of the family," said 50 year old retired teacher Rabi Dare Diallo.
    She has six children with her husband, who used to work as a truck driver for a local company conducting trade business with Libya.
    Since the war in Libya started six months ago, he's been out of work, so she's started to manufacture incense oils that she is trying to sell locally in the hope of managing to feed the family.
    She's retired from the education system due to ill health, but she sees what other teachers are having to manage at her daughter's school.
    "In a class where there are for example 50 pupils, or 60, or even more than 100 in the same classroom, the teacher will not be able to manage the class and teach them, so that they can learn something. Before we wouldn't have more than 23 in a class, between 15 and 23, which means we can easily manage this number of children," Diallo said.
    The world reached 6 billion people in 1998. It was 1 billion 200 years ago and it continues to grow vertiginously.
    Poor countries like Niger are the ones that will continue to suffer if the situation is not brought under control.
    "If we don't manage to create the necessary balance between economic growth and the galloping demography it will be very difficult to sort out the problems the Nigeriens will face in the next few years. As far as we are concerned, the solution involves responsible parenting. Responsible parenting engaging the woman but also the husband, in order to space out the births," Domingo said.
    Just 200 years ago, there were only 1 billion people on the planet, and over the next 150 years, that number grew to 3 billion. But in. the past 50 years, the world's population has more than doubled.
    As the UN points out, this increasing rate of change brings with it enormous challenges. Meeting the basic needs of so many will meaning growing, shipping, and distributing more food while providing more clean water, health care, and shelter -- all without inflicting too much further damage on our environment.
    It's a monumental task, and one that will be fought with for generations and generations to come.
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